Many fans of VR associate 360-degree film most strongly with one thing: watching instead of participating. Satisfying a role this may be – the more time I spent in the goggles, the greater the wish becomes to be part of the story. I start catching myself exhibiting little ticks: nodding, tiptoeing around, laughing, speaking, gesticulating into an empty room; only to realize: “Oh right, that doesn’t work here.” Quite frustrating, actually; and I was not the only one to feel this, as they are amongst us: interactive films in 360 degrees, of which I have compiled some particularly striking examples in this article (including my favorite of 2017!).

Interaction in virtual reality films: wouldn’t that be a VR game? Why even is interaction an issue? I gave the topic some thought and browsed through some of my clever books. Beware, things get a bit theoretical here. So, let’s go: where does VR film end and the VR game begin?